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== Marx to markets == | == Marx to markets == | ||
[[Image:Kapital.jpg|float|left|70pxls]] Capital was first identified as the main driver of the modern system of economic growth by German-born economist and philospher Karl Marx in his classic 1865 political-economy | [[Image:Kapital.jpg|float|left|70pxls]] Capital was first identified as the main driver of the modern system of economic growth by German-born economist and philospher Karl Marx in his classic 1865 political-economy treatise "Das Kapital".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/index.htm|name=Das Kapital|org=Marxists.org|date=July 29, 2008}}</ref> In the book's fourth chapter, entitled: The General Formula for Capital, Marx introduces the now-accepted idea of the accumulation of capital through investment as a never-ending cycle under 'capitalism' by showing how societies had progressed from using money as a means to buy commodities to using money to produce commodities as a means to increase value.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/daskapital/section2.rhtml|name=Chapter 4: The General Formula for Capital|org=Sparksnotes.com|date=July 29, 2008}}</ref> Today most such value-producing capital is held by retail banks, [[investment bank]]s and other [[institutional investors]] who manage capital on behalf of investors. Such capital was previously subject to strict definition and regulation only at the retail-banking level, but similar restrictions have recently been expanded to the investment-bank level. | ||
== Kinds of capital == | == Kinds of capital == |
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